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what is comets? |
Comets are small celestial bodies that orbit the Sun. They have a nucleus center called coma and may or may not have a tail. This coma is composed of rock, dust and ice. They orbit the Sun at very long intervals in highly elliptical orbits. They pass by the Earth on a cyclical schedule. As the comet gets closer to the Sun, the ice melts and this creates a lot of dust and debris. As the pressure of the sun increases, the solar wind pushes the dust and debris into a beautiful comet tail. The sun illuminates the tail and we can view the comet from Earth. Comets are often referred to as "dirty snowballs." |